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Hermes 450 Photo:Antonio Riciere
Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today that its Brazilian subsidiary, Aeroeletrônica Ltda. (AEL), has been awarded a contract to supply Hermes® 450 UAS to the Brazilian Air Force. The project is a part of the Brazilian Air Forces’ objective to establish independent UAS capabilities.
Camcopter with MX-10 Photo: Wescam L-3
Schiebel Aircraft GmbH and Wescam L-3 Communications have announced the first flight of a CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS with the Wescam MX-10 EO/IR payload installed. After brief installation and integration activities of a joint L-3 Wescam Schiebel team, the MX-10 flew successfully at a test range near the Schiebel production facility in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
IAI has delivered a dozen UAS, including the short-range Bird-Eye 400 and I-View Mk 150 aircraft, and the longer-range Searcher II, in recent weeks as part of an Israeli effort to encourage the Russians not to provide Iran and Syria with advanced weapons systems, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Hunter in use with the U.S. Army since 1996, recently surpassed 100,000 flight hours in service, more than 72,000 of which were flown in combat.
The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA) has announced the UAV Summit scheduled for April 11 – 14, 2011 in the Washington DC area. Members from all services, coast guard/border patrol, and acquisition will convene in the Washington DC Metro Area this April to discuss and evaluate the current and future state of UAV technology and development throughout the US Military.
Britain and France have launched a proposal to design and build the next generation of unmanned military attack aircraft worth £600 million (€710 million, $952 million). British and French forces want a more advanced aircraft than the General Atomics Reaper currently in service with the Royal Air Force.
Apache helicopter pilots will soon be able to control Grey Eagle UAS directly from the cockpit. The Grey Eagle-Apache command system is undergoing testing and is expected to be ready for demonstration at the Dugway Proving Ground test centre in Utah by September.
Rotomotion has announced what it claims to be “the smallest, most affordable professional short endurance electric Vertical Take Off and Land Unmanned Aerial System (VTOL UAS) in the industry” – the SR5 Parvus. The company describes the SR5 as “the most advanced professional VTOL UAS in its weight and payload class providing military-grade autonomous flight with features such as stable hoover, event-driven automatic craft return and pre-loaded map and flight path tracking that allows in-flight switching between manual and autonomous modes”.